Health and Money

High Dollar Health

Health is not often talked about with money, but maybe it should be. Being healthy is something that everyone in the world enjoys, and wishes to have for their entire life. It is something that you can also purchase, and your money can used to become and stay healthy for a lifetime. Life expectancy is lower in poorer nations, and higher in more developed and richer nations. To put it frankly, you can buy more life.

Most healthy people started out without health issues from birth. They won the birth lottery and were born to parents that took care of themselves, ate healthy, and usually has more wealth, living in a developed country. They were then raised and educated on healthy lifestyle choices, showing that their parents had an education and finances to support this healthy lifestyle. They could afford fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and if any health issue arose, they could afford to take their children to the doctor. Most of these people even have insurance, that their job most likely helped them to receive. Their job and their health were linked together, allowing their middle class lifestyle to continue without the fear of going dead broke from one huge medical bill.

Now lets say you were born to poor struggling parents who had minimum wage jobs, no insurance, no access for organic healthy foods, and if you were sick you toughed it out. You would waited for the free clinic to open up every Wednesday in the church basement. These people, who are born to poorer families, are more likely to develop health problems quicker in life, and their life span is often shortened if they continue on their path of poverty.

Pull Up bar, Rings, Basketball hoop, my home gym

There are no solutions that work to help this health/ money gap. We could go to socialized healthcare, but then taxes are raised and health care professionals become overwhelmed. Innovations in healthcare technologies suffer because capitalism is no longer in play, and the rewards of monetary gain are gone. We could also demand that all businesses provide healthcare, but again this would raise taxes to help businesses pay for their employees, and other people would be laid off because businesses couldn’t afford these new expenses. They could even be forced to close, creating more poverty.

Every idea we come up with in the world seems to have a massive negative consequence. We need to find a way to end poverty and help people manage their money better. Everyone should learn to live within their means, budget what little they have, and find a way to eradicate urban food deserts and other unhealthy environments. We should also provide for health screenings at public schools, educate the masses on health more thoroughly, and feed every child only the healthiest options in our school cafeterias. This would help an entire generation to grow up healthier, no matter where they live or their income level. They would be educated on their options in their childhood for a longer more healthful life, and have better control of their lifestyle. Whatever the options are there will be more unforeseen issues, and more money needed, but it is a topic we need to discuss more to help all of our society members live longer and better lives.